Adrian Newey “provokes” Aston Martin: the challenge is launched
Formula 1 icon Adrian Newey recently pointed out the limitations of Aston Martin's simulator, estimating that it would take two years to solve the problem. The Silverstone staff are determined to prove him wrong. Andy Cowell, the team's new managing director, responds and reveals what goes on behind the scenes of an exciting internal challenge.
« We’re going to show him! »: Aston Martin’s response
Interviewed on the podcast James Allen on F1, Andy Cowell didn’t mince words regarding Newey’s predictions: « Will it take us two years to get there? No, absolutely not. Does Adrian provoke people? Yes, absolutely. » Aston Martin’s new boss insists: these criticisms have triggered a positive chain reaction within the factory. « Everyone at the factory I’ve spoken to told me: ‘We’ll show him! We’ll turn those two years into a few months’ », he states.
Newey had highlighted the weaknesses in the correlation between the data and Aston Martin’s simulator, considering the resolution of this flaw as a two-year project. But for Cowell, such statements only accelerate the momentum of progress: « Competition is also a matter of pace. The advantage comes from how quickly we achieve our goals. »
A frank and targeted collaboration
Andy Cowell reunited with Newey twenty years after their first collaboration at McLaren. Today, they work side by side at Aston Martin, but with well-defined roles. Adrian is not interested in management or team organization. He focuses on car design, its architecture, the details, explains Cowell. We know our strengths and weaknesses, and I think one of our strengths is that we can speak frankly to each other.
This technical duo, with complementary experience, relies on direct communication and a shared vision of performance, centered on a common goal: the gain in performance expressed in milliseconds.
Towards 2026 with Honda in sight
As the team will switch to Honda engines in 2026, Cowell remains reassuring. Although he hasn’t worked on an engine in five years, his expertise in hybrid powertrains – acquired at Mercedes – remains valuable in facilitating the integration of the new engine.
« It’s not my role to design the engine; that’s Honda’s job. But I can explain to the engineers here the challenges they face, and vice versa. This helps create a common language: that of the stopwatch », he states. A technical mediator role that could make a difference when every millisecond counts.
